Idled Hmong farmers appeal for land (due to urban sprawl and ethanol production)

http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_5728878

"On a dazzling April morning when they'd rather be outdoors, five Hmong farmers are stuck inside, talking. Yer Vang wishes she were preparing the soil for the season's first potatoes. Va Moua talks of transplanting her fast-growing vegetable seedlings. And Bao Lor dreams of planting green beans.

But none will be farming today. These veteran Hmong growers have not been able to find farmland to rent this year. Nor have dozens of other Hmong vegetable farmers in the Twin Cities.

The increasing pressures of urbanization, the shrinking pool of open land near the Twin Cities and now the lucrative price of corn have combined this spring to make it difficult for growers to find small, rentable plots of cropland. Now, the situation has produced an unusual public appeal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

USDA officials in Minnesota are seeking local landowners willing to rent two- to five-acre plots of farmland to vegetable growers. At a recent forum in St. Paul, officials were stunned to hear dozens of Hmong farmers tell of the same difficulty."

Guess fresh veggies from the farmer's markets around me are gonna be harder to find this year.

gardens! The more food we can grow in our own communities the better.